Texas-based software company SolarWinds was the victim of a major hack recently that affected multiple government agencies and corporate clients. In a hearing before the House Oversight and Homeland Security Committees, the company’s former CEO blamed an intern that changed a company password to “solarwinds123.”
A federal judge has given final approval to a $650 million settlement for a class action lawsuit against Facebook which alleged that the Masters of the Universe stored biometric data in violation of Illinois state law.
A recent report from Bloomberg states that game developer CD Projekt SA was forced to delay a promised update to its heavily-criticized blockbuster game Cyberpunk 2077, claiming that a recent ransomware attack resulted in hackers stealing the game’s source code and locking the company’s systems.
The Chinese-owned social media app TikTok has reportedly agreed to pay $92 million to settle dozens of lawsuits alleging that the app harvested personal data from users without consent and shared the data with third-parties, including some in China. Experts are calling it one of the largest privacy-related payouts in history.
The popular Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp will reportedly block users who refuse to accept its updated privacy terms and conditions from using the service.
E-commerce giant Amazon recently confirmed that it has equipped some delivery vans with AI-powered cameras, and it already uses an intrusive tracking app called Mentor to monitor workers delivering packages.
Microsoft President Brad Smith said on Sunday that a recent hack of the Texas-based IT firm SolarWinds was “the largest and most sophisticated attack the world has ever seen.”
A recent report alleges that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff that Facebook needs to “inflict pain” on Apple in the ongoing privacy dispute between the two Silicon Valley giants.
According to a recent report, the water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Florida that was recently targeted by hackers left their systems extremely vulnerable to infiltration. According to the Verge, the treatment plant shared a common password to access critical systems remotely.
Social media giant Facebook is being sued for “losing control” of the data of around one million users in England and Wales.
Florida residents had a lucky escape after water treatment plant operators prevented dangerous levels of lye from being added to the local water supply by a hacker that penetrated the computer systems of the City of Oldsmar’s water treatment facility.
Snap Inc., the parent company of the Snapchat social media platform, warned on Thursday that upcoming privacy changes by Apple could hurt its ad business despite user growth and revenue beating analysts’ fourth-quarter estimates.
The Harvard Business Review has called Facebook’s campaign against fellow tech giant Apple “misleading” in a recent article. Facebook has ratcheted up its war of words with Apple over new iPhone privacy settings that will impact Facebook’s advertising model. Mark Zuckerberg and his company claim to be the champions of small business against Apple.
A recent report states that a cybersecurity firm has found three new “critical” vulnerabilities in SolarWinds software after a vulnerability in the company’s systems led to a massive hack of U.S. government and corporate sites last year.
Social media giant Facebook is now reportedly attempting to preempt a new privacy update from Apple by asking users permission to track them ahead of the update’s rollout.
Music streaming service Spotify has reportedly filed a patent for new personality tracking technology that analyses a user’s emotional state and suggests music based on it. The patent, titled “Identification of taste attributes from an audio signal,” details constantly monitoring “speech content and background noise” to provide song suggestions.
A recent report from the Information claims that tech giant Facebook plans to take on rival Apple in an antitrust lawsuit related to its iOS 14 privacy features. A lawsuit would be a dramatic escalation to the war of words between the Masters of the Universe over user privacy.
Tech giant Apple has released a security update for iOS devices to patch multiple vulnerabilities, urging customers to download it immediately. According to Apple, vulnerabilities in its software “may have been actively exploited” by hackers.
An angry firestorm from both leftwing feminists and conservative constitutionalists is besieging President Joe Biden who, on Day One of his presidency, issued an executive order that removes any legal recognition of the two sexes and eradicates protections women have enjoyed in the federal government and other arenas such as bathroom privacy and sports.
Dating app Bumble has temporarily disabled a feature allowing users to filter potential matches based on their political leanings. The company cryptically announced it had disabled the feature to “prevent misuse” after social media posts indicated some users were changing their political leanings to try to locate other users who attended the Capitol Hill protest.
Telegram surpassed 500 million active users in January, according to a statement from Pavel Durov, the messaging app’s founder. Durov noted that 25 million people downloaded the platform in just 72 hours.
Recent reports claim that 70 terabytes of user data from social media network Parler have been leaked online.
The hacker group behind the suspected Russian cyberattack of Texas-based IT company SolarWinds is now suspected of also gaining access to Microsoft’s internal systems.
Throughout 2020 the world saw multiple major hacks and breaches of schools, governments, and private companies as more systems moved online and the world adapted to the coronavirus pandemic — here are five of the most notable hacks and breaches of 2020.
A 12-year-old English girl plans to take legal action against the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, alleging that the app uses children’s data illegally.
Ticketmaster recently agreed to pay $10 million in criminal fines after they gained unlawful access to its competitor’s private data. In 2013, a former Ticketmaster executive reportedly encouraged an employee that had previously worked for a competitor to access the competitor’s internal computer data.
Police forces are reportedly using digital evidence from vehicles to investigate crimes, but many privacy activists have fears about the lack of information security in most vehicles’ computers.
Employees at Facebook are pushing back on the company’s war against Apple’s efforts to prevent data harvesting by social media companies. An update to Apple’s mobile operating system allows blocks tracking by platforms like Facebook and Google.
A recent report claims that a second hacking group was targeting the Texas-based IT company SolarWinds at the time that the first breach of the company’s systems was discovered. The SolarWinds hack resulted in large-scale intrusions into government agencies including the Treasury.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has revealed that the recent hack of the Austin-based IT company SolarWinds was much worse than initially reported and “poses a grave risk to the federal government.” The National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains America’s nuclear stockpile, has been targeted by the hack.
Social media giant Facebook has run another full-page ad in three major newspapers claiming that Apple’s tracking change will harm small businesses and the internet as a whole. Apple has responded to Facebook’s attack ads, stating: “Users should know when their data is being collected and shared across other apps and websites — and they should have the choice to allow that or not.”
The Texas-based IT company SolarWinds recently announced that it has suffered a “highly-sophisticated, targeted and manual supply chain attack by a nation state,” which may have left multiple U.S. government agencies vulnerable. The federal government is investigating a major hack of government agencies including the Treasury Department.
A report published on Sunday revealed that data stored by the United States Treasury was compromised by a sophisticated hacking group backed by a foreign government. The hackers also infiltrated the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The National Security Council launched an investigation into the incident after a meeting on Saturday at the White House.
The music streaming service Spotify has reportedly reset an undisclosed number of user passwords after claiming that a software vulnerability in its systems exposed privacte user information to its business partners.
In a recent article, BuzzFeed News claims that Facebook employees believe that the company’s global ad machine puts profits over people by allowing hackers and scammers to buy ads aimed at ripping off Facebook users and manipulating people.
In a recent article, Recode outlines how retailers track customers’ every move in exchange for providing them with coupons and convenient shopping experiences.
Senators are demanding answers from ExamSoft, an exam software company that has been widely criticized by students this year over privacy concerns and a set of bizarre rules. A student who took the bar exam using ExamSoft’s technology told reporters in October that he was forced to urinate in his pants due to the platform’s prohibition against bathroom breaks.
Amazon announced recently that it will deploy machine-learning AI technology to monitor warehouse workers. The technology is designed to ensure that workers are following social distancing guidelines during their shifts. Similar technology will also be deployed to monitor the health of warehouse machinery.
A recently discovered and patched security vulnerability in Apple devices allowed hackers to remote control iPhones within WiFi range. Unlike many hacks, this vulnerability did not require the target iPhone to be touched by its user or the hacker. As one expert explained, “This attack is just you’re walking along, the phone is in your pocket, and over Wi-Fi someone just worms in with some dodgy Wi-Fi packets.”
A recent report states that a number of “smart” doorbells featuring microphones and cameras sold on Amazon and eBay come stocked with a number of security vulnerabilities.
